If you’re curious to see the Indian equivalent of Fox News, or how one of India’s most popular English language news programs is covering the Hamas-Israel conflagration, check out this video of an international bunch of talking heads shouting at each other.
One of those shouting heads is me.
The show is The Debate with Arnab Goswami, on India’s Republic TV. He’s the Oxford-educated managing director and editor-in-chief of the right-wing channel, as well as being a founder and owner.
This episode dates from about a month ago, after the October 7 massacre but before Israel invaded Gaza. I contribute to the clamor at about 31, 43 and 53 minutes into the video. But there are far better reasons to peruse the discussion.
To start with, Goswami’s work has been dubbed “Fox News on Steroids.” The opening 80 seconds of the clip is worth catching in and of itself, for its jingoistic slogans (“The Nation is Eternal”) as well as the roar of its introductory musical cyclone.
Whether or not the show intentionally mimics Fox, it’s a reminder of how U.S. models seep into foreign societies. The efficacy of America’s largely ill-fated attempts to export democracy pales in comparison with our cultural impacts overseas, for better or often worse.
The right-wing, India-specific slant on the Middle East fighting and its causes also is noteworthy. Goswami portrays India’s rival China as a Middle East puppet master. He’s downright hostile to the show’s participant from his country’s other main rival, Pakistan, though solicitous of his Iranian guest.
Given its far-right orientation, how do I feel about occasionally appearing on Republic TV?
Fine. I get to say what I want, in the hope that what I say expands some viewers’ outlooks a bit. I suppose that’s why liberals and moderates appear on Rupert Murdoch’s brainchild.
In fact, there are respects in which The Debate is superior to Fox. At least in this episode, the guests represent a range of perspectives hailing from a broad swath of nations: India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and the United States (as well as, but for a technical glitch, Palestine). While I strongly disagree with most of Goswami’s politics, he’s brighter than the typical Fox host. And even while he blusters and sometimes interrupts his guests, he also often allows them to speak at far greater length than Fox’s quasi-sound bites allow.
Regardless, the fact remains that a foreign version of “Fox News on Steroids” is helping to shape the political discourse in the world’s most populous nation, home to over 1.4 billion people. That’s significant, albeit not soothing.
And what about the fact that such a show could be better than Fox in certain respects?
Sadly, that’s not news.
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